The door of Marina's home opened, and in blew Illarion Vale with the dry autumn wind. Marina rose from the frame she worked at and went to him. His bright eyes scanned the room, and then he started having suddenly remembered something, closed the door that kept out the breeze, and embraced her.

And then they talked as they often did, Illarion telling his tales of the strange, and wonderful, and sometimes frightening Multiverse out there, and Marina trying to match them with the dull and quiet goings on of home. How he had visited Keter again and what had been done there, how Marina had become good enough at embroidery as a hobby that the other young ladies of town, with no time for such persuits, had offered to pay her to stitch initials onto handkerchifs and the like. Of the dwarves of Ikass, and the Jotun that had passed through town not three days past.

It wasn't so bad, Marina reflected. She probably saw Illarion more than the wives of peddlers saw their husbands if they didn't accompany them on their journies. Perhaps...

They had dinner, and then began to show off their trinkets. For Marina, her best was the half finished repair on the town banner, which had been deposited on her doorstep the day after the Jotun left, along with promises of good pay for good work. When she asked Illarion to share, as he had said he had something to, he hesitated. He stood from his chair, fiddled with his pockets, finally withdrawing something he held tightly in his hands.

“Marina...” he breathed, looking to her, serious and somber. He took two steps closer, then fell to a knee. At last, he revealed what he had – a ring, sparkling with five bright gems. The design was foreign, but even before Illarion found his voice, the meaning was unmistakable.

“Marina, will you marry me?”

Marina looked into his eyes, and saw how much he meant what he said, knew what he meant by the gesture. All she could find herself saying was her answer.

“Yes...” she declared, tears of joy coming to her eyes, “Yes, I will.”

Illarion stayed for three days, and in that time they laid out the basics of their plan, ones that would see him traveling again, for one more sortie into the Multiverse. Marina did not say one last, because though she felt such a life would not be for her, though Illarion swore he would stay by her and abide whatever she wished in that... it was not wise to say never. The stories of adventure swam in her head. Perhaps some day.

And thus it was arranged, that they would do things in the most traditional way, not for townsfolk of the Heartland but for Builders as they were, to have a spring ceremony in far-off Rettrborg, beneath the Aurora's shine. In the months between Marina would ready herself, and her family and friends that would come would prepare for the journey, while Illarion, for his part, had his own tasks of invitation and, as it turned out, having that strange but beautiful ring resized by the best. Measurements were taken, plans made, and congradulations given. And that was only the start.

***

Silently gliding through the darkness, Dantalion approached. He was invisible, inaudible, and yet...

“Don't try to sneak up on me.” Ellia, the Endbringer, declared, her back turned, “I do not appreciate it.”

Dantalion spoke in Ellia's mind, though even as he did he felt that he was barely being allowed even that.

“Greetings, Endbringer, mistress of the Coven.” he declared.

“Cut the formalities.” Ellia said, “I have little time for them... Dantalion.” Ellia turned, and Dantalion came out of the shadows, “Ah, yes.” she said, “I thought I recognized your presence. How ever did you get out of that jar you were stuffed into?”

“On that,” Dantalion replied, “I shall keep my secrets.”

“Only because I allow you to.” Ellia said. “So, however you escaped you finally managed, and here you are in my presence. What do you want, creature? I have no illusions of this being a social call.”

“To put it bluntly,” Dantalion said, “I require a boon. All that I invested in the Annulus is lost to me, and I can feel this husk dying all the time. I request you teach me how you maintain your existence.”

“It's a good trick, isn't it? I could work something out for you, no doubt. However, do not presume I will simply give such a boon to a being that once refused to join my Coven. How did your response go, then? It was something about ultimate power awaiting you and not needing the paltry schemes of some crimson-haired witch, as I recall.”

“I was in error.” Dantalion replied hastily, “What do you need?”

“Bluntly, your service.” Ellia declared, “Here on Adrisar, I have plans in motion that could use your particular skills. A few months of infiltration, perhaps a pointed assassination, and then I will grant you the knowledge you seek.”

“Unacceptable.” Dantalion replied. He did not need to read her mind to tell she meant to string him along through indefinite indenture, “I shall serve you, but set me a task I can complete.”

“Very well.” Ellia snarled, “But on the condition that if you survive failing, you will work for me until my aims here on Adrisar are completed, in any office I choose, in exchange for me extending your pathetic life. Nothing less. You get one chance to do this your way.”

Dantalion considered. Ellia's schemes could be indefinite, this he knew, but eternal life was not a prize that was easily one, either.

“What is your task?”

“Long ago,” Ellia said, “The Moxen were known throughout the multiverse as jewels of incomprable power. But they were lost to time or violence or Ravidel's mad quest for vengeance. Or so we believed. My divinations have shown me that for at least one set of the gems their shards were forged into a ring, and in this ring would dwell much of the original power. And of this ring, I know where it will be at a particular time, not long from now. I had been making plans to somehow acquire it myself, but given the situation perhaps I shall put you up to it and see if you can manage.”

Dantalion was ready to accept, but it all seemed too simple. “Why?” he asked, “Why send me on an errand you could complete yourself? Why tell me where this ring is when I could claim it for my own.”

“For the first,” Ellia said, “Because it amuses me, and I don't see a way you could blunder so badly as to make the ring unattainable. For the second... even with the ring you would not be my equal. You would not even be close. If you wish to die, feel free to obtain it and then keep it from me.”

“Very well.” Dantalion replied, “We have an accord.”

***

Skogul landed lightly on the balcony that overlooked the northwestern quarter of Rettrborg, where Prince Larus stood, leaning against the railing and surveying the city from above with far less interest and far less efficacy than she had just done. But then, he was rather clearly bored, and why not? They had arrived in the city a week before there would even potentially be anything to do.

“Are you well, young prince?” the Valkyrie asked.

Larus nodded, “In good health, at least, as when you left.”

“Forgive me for saying, but it seems to me as though you could be doing better.”

“I will be,” Larus said, “Once council is in session. At least sitting in on the meetings will give me something to think about.”

“Well,” Skogul offered, “I would say you are in need of a diversion, then. Rettrborg may be the seat of the Law, but that's hardly all there is here.”

Skogul smirked, “Well, you don't seem to be dedicating much time to them in the first place. Better that you should be down in the city rather than watching it like a hawk. I noted quite a few things that might interest you... the market, of course, is in session even when the council is not. In the southeast quarter I believe the locals are having some manner of fair, and I even noticed a wedding being prepared at the very shore you look over.”

As Skogul motioned to the northwest, Larus looked quite surprised at the pronouncement.

“You want me to crash someone's wedding?” he asked, “That hardly seems like the good behavior you've tried to teach.”

“Leave a purse of silver among the gifts,” Skogul said, knowing how little such a thing would mean to Larus and how much to commoners that had taken the time and expense to come to Rettrborg for the ceremony, “And no one will begrudge you a little warm food and jolly dancing.”

Larus laughed and shook his head. “That does sound nice.” he replied, “Ah, Skogul, what would Vindstadr and I do without you?”

“Whatever you had to.” Skogul answered, “You'd hire a guide for the city, perhaps procure a book or the services of a skald to recite poetry for your pleasure. All still things you could do rather than waiting for me to inform you of other options.”

“Point taken.” Larus replied. He stood up straight, stretched, and paced to the door back to the chambers. Skogul followed him in as he collected his things for a day out in Rettrborg, all the way down to the main hall of the embassy, quiet as it was with so few of the council and their fellows having arrived early.

But minutes after Larus stepped out, another figure arrived. Any mortal would have taken her for a rather tall human woman with proud features and honey-blonde hair, armored and carrying a spear and shield. But Skogul would not soon mistake her fallen sister for a mere human.

“Rani.” Skogul said, using the name that Rangrid gave to humans now, “This is unexpected.”

“I know.” she said, “but I bear dire news.”

Skogul thought. “In private.” she said, “Come with me.”

As soon as Skogul had lead the way back to the Vindstadr suites, Rangrid began to speak.

“Sister,” she said, “As you recommended I went to take light into dark places, but what I have found there chills me to the bone.”

“I will." Rangrid said, "I fear this is something of which Sigdrifa must know...”

And with that, Rangrid recounted her adventures and troubles in the dark lands of the south, the monsters she had fought and the one terrible beast, a thing called Skoll the Suneater, that had bested her yet spared her from a fate she claimed was worse than death.

“I will convey your news.” Skogul said. She looked over Rangrid carefully. The hollowness behind the eyes, the slight tremble in her otherwise solid ready stance... Skogul had seen them before, but in mortals. Valkyries were seldom if ever subject to fear, but her encounter with Skoll had left her not just frightened by a powerful foe, but shaken even in Rettrborg where sun and Aurora shone. She placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.

“... Will you remain in the city for a time?” Skogul asked, a request and not an inquiry into Rangrid's intent.

“I can spare a few days.” Rangrid said at length, “Do you mean to bring a reply from above?”

And at that, Skogul had two choices. After a moment that should have been shorter, she chose honesty.

“Perhaps, but more than that the burdens of your state and your journey weigh heavy upon you.” Skogul said, “I can see it in your eyes. When was the last time you even rested?”

Rangrid looked away, and did not answer.

“Our sisterhood is strong,” Skogul continued, “but we are not invincible. If you bear too great a burden, it will crush you; not even Sigdrifa carries the weight of the world upon her shoulders. So stay in Rettrborg for a few days, cast off some of your weight with the strength of its history. Let the Aurora's light shine on you and bring you peace.”

And a thought occurred to Skogul. Rani needed her mind off whatever hell she'd been through, while Larus needed his occupied.

“I think there are some southerners come to have a wedding, out by the northwest shore. Why don't you attend? I'll give you something to gift to the young couple that your presence will not seem untoward to those who do not know you.”

Rangrid closed her eyes. “If that is what you counsel, sister, it shall be done.”

A soldier through and through, Skogul thought in frustration. Yes, being in the midst of joy and ceremony alike would do her some good.

***

Marina couldn't help but smile when she saw the gathered guests. Friends, family, and those who were strangers to her, all gathered by the sea, in the holy city of the North, cradle of all civilization. There were self-proclaimed queens in the Heartland who could, for all the pomp and circumstances of their affairs, not claim a more perfect day for their weddings than one where the Aurora reflected off the ice-cold waters and Valkyries wheeled overhead just after dawn. All of Marina's trepidation, as little as there had been, at having her wedding in this foreign place had been long dispelled when the guests began to arrive.

Marina's family and friends had been the first, some even arriving in Rettrborg before her and Illarion but most having taken the same ship to the north. Illarion's guests, however, were all set to arrive on the day itself. Those strangers didn't have to worry about the passage to the north and back. All the same, as they filtered in they seemed decent folk, if strange.

The first Planeswalker to arrive, excepting Illarion himself of course, introduced herself as Mari Gwynn, a young woman with stark white hair whose beauty would have made Marina burn with envy if not for how uncanny she seemed at first. Next was Raleris, an elderly gentleman, and after him the next two to arrive, one after the other, were so strange Marina could not work up the nerve to approach and ask after them, being as they were a woman somehow merged with a horse and some manner of dragon-man, human only in the basic outlay of his form but wearing a fine suit, a tall hat of black satin, and a monocle. And Illarion saw to these two and made it so they were arranged with blankets, the dragon-man sitting with one wrapped about his shoulders and concealing his wings from distant onlookers while another was draped over the horse woman's hindquarters when she sat so that it appeared that she knelt on the ground in front of some covered obstruction.

Next had arrived Larasa and Morgan, pale-skinned, wide-eyed, dark-haired, and of those friends of Illarion Marina would meet the most eagerly talkative and friendly. Indeed, they should have held her full attention had not her intermittent duties as hostess as well as the subject of all attention demanded she be elsewhere. After them came another young woman, more in line with Larasa's age Marina guessed, who was the most unassuming yet. Indeed, she could have fit in well upon Aralheim, unlike any of the others save Raleris. She had auburn hair, green eyes, and skin that while fair was not the pale of Larasa and Morgan. For garb the only strange accessory was a cape of wolf-fur, which was far from unusual in the abstract. Marina got the feeling that the Planeswalker was not very comfortable here, seeing as she placed herself on the edge of any group, her eyes darted frequently at movement, and she gave the horse woman in particular a distance nearly as wide as the seaside venue allowed.

After Aria, there had been a lull of arrivals until midmorning, when a very well-dressed Northern man slipped into the crowd. Quietly, he placed a hefty purse on the gift table, and then seemed to content himself with watching the goings on and the occassional quiet conversation. Marina caught his name as Larus, and that he hailed from Vindstadr, and she guessed that he was another of Illarion's friends, if a local one. The second to last apparent guest was a shieldmaiden, armed and armored as though for warfare but carrying herself with the casual airs of a simple celebrant. At once Larus hailed her as Rani and the two, mostly Larus, began to chat, so Marina didn't bother them. Finally, there came one final man. Pale of skin and dark of hair like Larasa and Morgan, but wearing a suit not unlike the dragon-man's in style, the only differences being that this new arrival seemed human, at least, and his suit appeared almost oil-slick in its glossy blackness. He remained at the back of the crowd, and as Marina was hustled away from the group to change for the ceremony itself, she felt a chill down her spine when she glanced in his direction.

That was someone she would not be looking forward to meeting and greeting.

Instead, Marina found herself antsy. She moved among the crowd when she could, and did not bask in the attention most gave her when she passed near. She had wanted this -- for so long this had been a dream but now that it was finally here she found herself wanting the day to hurtle forwards, wishing that the end was already here and she could go on with her new life. It was not from unhappiness, far from it, nor was her wish based in fear. Instead, she simply burned to be through with strangers and ceremony. She had been content to wait years, months. Now hours left her restless, waiting for the appointed hour when officials would arrive and vows be spoken.

Well, she thought, one way to be through with strangers was to make friends of them. One way to get the future here faster to live for a bit in the present. Marina scanned the crowd, eyes darting from where Kiriana sat, nature scarcely concealed, to where Raleris, Morgan, and Larasa spoke in a very animated fashion about matters that no doubt would fly over Marina's head. She averted her gaze quickly from the man in the oily dark suit, paused a moment to witness Zouvek chatting amiably with one of Marina's guests from home, and finally landed on Aria, looking quite alone as she attempted to, what, resemble a decoration at the end of the buffet?

Marina sighed inwardly, steeled herself, and walked over to the woman.

Aria gave a forced smile "Yeah, you've got it." She looked away, scanning the room and pressing herself back into her makeshift corner just a little more, "I guess this is what the introductions were for. Well, hi."

Aria looked away, and Marina got the feeling that she was terribly nervous, but didn't see why. Wasn't it the bride who was supposed to have the jitters?

"Something the matter."

"No." Aria said, all too quickly. "I mean... I'm just not used to so many people."

Marina took an opportunity to scan the area herself. It was very crowded, which made her smile thinking how many people cared enough to come from across the mountains or across the worlds to be here.

"I guess there are a lot of us." she replied, "But no worries, we're all friendly around here." Marina gave her biggest, best warm smile.

"I can see that." Aria replied. She seemed a little less morose, but Marina clearly wasn't going to change her mind about crowds. Ah, well, to each her own. Marina shifted, and looked again, and her eyes fell on some of Illarion's other guests and she remembered why she had gone to Aria in the first place.

"So," she said, "How did you and Illarion meet? He tells me a lot of stories but it's probably half of what he sees and I remember maybe half of that, so forgive me asking."

Marina tried to take in what she knew about each of the guests, if anything. Some, like Aria, she was sure she hadn't heard of, and others she was sure she had but couldn't place the tale. It was so much different, seeing a dragon-man in a top hat than hearing a name, and for a moment she felt ashamed that she couldn't place them better. Of those she could place, though... nearly everyone Marina had ever known lived in but one town. No two of Illarion's guests came from the same town, she was sure. The same world? Perhaps, but she'd be less surprised at the opposite however fantastical the conclusions it brought about.

Marina forced a soft chuckle. "Disappear? Why, what a terrible thing to do." And then a thought struck her, her own self-concious agitation, nervous anticipitation momentarily forgotten, "Come on!" She grabbed Aria's hand and dragged her away from that isolated little spot and to the center of the milling guests. Quickly, she whistled to the piper to catch his attention, and he stood with his instrument ready.

"What are you doing?" Aria hissed.

"You need to have a little fun." Marina replied, "And so do I, and I bet half of everyone else is going stir crazy too. So that's what we're going to do."

"Alright, ladies!" Marina called to the whole hall, "If every able woman could come front and center, we've time to kill, so we're going to learn how to dance a Heartlands jig!"

"Best be careful." Marina said quietly to Aria, "Or you just might enjoy yourself."

As the crowd shifted, the women came forward. Most without prompting, Rani only when eight-year-old Embla seized her hand and dragged her forward, and Kiriana and a few of the elderly women not at all. In the corner of her eye, Marina saw Aria's expression shift, calm coming after some initial surge of fear. Embla and Rani making the biggest scene, Aria actually smiled, naturally for the first time.

"Yeah," she said, "I might."

***

Rangrid watched as the young couple stood together at the head of the crowd. The priestess there to bless their union spoke her lines haltingly, and Rangrid understood why – there were so many strange folk attending this wedding, ones not even Rangrid knew existed in the world much less their nature or intentions. The lot of them seemed peaceful, even genial as she had been quite unwillingly dragged into the midst of their mirth, but were she in the priestess's place she would not entirely trust the congregation. Was this why Skogul had sent her and Larus to the event? Her elder sister had a sometimes impish sense of humor, but there was more to matters, it seemed, than an awkward reunion.

Deciding at last between propriety and answers, Rangrid whispered to Prince Larus.

“Skogul directed you here, yes?”

“She did.” he answered, “I take it she gave you the same advice.”

“Indeed.” Rangrid said, “Did she tell you why?”

“Ah, not any special reason. And you?”

“I suspect she keeps her secrets.”

Rangrid looked forward again, focusing intently on the ceremony, looking for whatever might be her purpose here. The priestess called for rings, but when the husband placed the glittering, jeweled band on his new wife's finger, there was a dull, slow clap from the back of the audience.

Rangrid turned her head and saw the man in the oil-slick suit, who had arrived after her, standing in the center of the aisle.

And at that, the world seemed to darken, and creeping things as large as a man with scythes for hands appeared flanking the stranger. The crowd began to scatter, screaming, and those that did not leapt to their feet. Rangrid hefted her spear, and drew the short sword that she carried also and pressed it into Larus' hand.

“I trust you know how to use that.” she said, and he took the sword.

“It seems I shall have to.” he replied.

***

Illarion might not have known who the man in the oily black suit was, but he recognized summoned horrors when he saw them. Whoever this man, this planeswalker was, he meant murderous business. Almost reflexively, Illarion stepped in front of Marina, who fer her part cowered with the officiating priestess. Illarion didn't blame them. As far as he knew neither knew how to fight, much less fight abominations from another world. Of Marina's side of the guests, most scattered, and the horrors ignored them, but Illarion's friends, and a few others, stood firm. They were planeswalkers, one and all, and not a one of them lacked entirely the ability to give a good account of him or herself. Indeed, Illarion reflected as the monsters advanced and ranks were formed that he might be the least capable person still prepared to engage. All the same he found himself drawing on red mana, memories of the peaks of the heartland and the volcanic rage of far-away Shiv. He had never been good with fire-calling, but he would have to try.

With Aria, Mari, Zouvek, Raleris, Larasa, Morgan, Kiriana, and the two armed strangers standing firm, their foe and his monsters were outnumbered.

Then two more horrors appeared. Outnumbered for now at least.

“Charge!” the strange woman cried, spear in hand, leaping over benches towards the nearest monster and driving her weapon home. Next to strike was Mari, whoconjured a tempest of shining light around herself and waded fearlessly forward. Their enemy turned to face her as she clashed with the first horror on that side, and a bolt of alabaster magic struck her, disrupting her defenses at the last moment. The monster swung its scythe-like claw, but a massive gray wolf pounced it, taking a vicious, deep cut to its chest but bearing the monster to earth even as another, a faceless, nameless nightmare took its place in combat. Aria ran from behind lines to Mari, and ushered her to her feet.

On the other side, Larasa and Morgan had formed ranks around Raleris, Larasa calling waters up from the sea and flinging blasts of razor sharp ice. Kiriana, for her part, had taken up her bow, and was busily turning monsters into pincoushins attempting to discover their vitals. For his part, Zouvek was awing, surveying the situation, no doubt as Illarion himself not wanting to risk catching friend along with foe.

On, as Illarion reckoned it, the right flank the spearwoman, and the man beside her sword in hand, broke through the line of summoned evils and faced the man in the black suit. He did not even turn to regard them but sent a wave of black mana like oil against them. The spearwoman's weapon glowed brilliant silver as she thrust it into the offending spell, and the wave of ichor parted around them and dispersed.

This was not something the man was prepared for, and when the two warriors sprang upon him he was caught unaware. Illarion could not help but flinch as the woman buried her spear in their enemy's chest and bore him to ground, and the man in turn hacked at his neck.

There was a shower of gore, and a brilliant flash, and then a dark shape glided through the air, darting away from the mangled corpse of the man in the black suit.

“Fools!” a deep voice boomed in Illarion's head, “I will not be denied!”

And the tiny black shape dove into the water.

For a moment, the only motion was the swift defeat of the last few horrors left among the broken and overturned benches and tables, but then, with a mighty splash, a terrible thing emerged from the water. It was a gigantic crab, or something like one, all made of something that glistened black like obsidian. With a back-handed swing of one of its massive claws it knocked an unaware Mari Gwynn aside, sending her sprawling senseless to the ground, and then surged towards the altar as fast as its legs would bear it forward.

“The Mox Ring is mine!” the booming, mental voice declared. Illarion stood firm, between the monster and Marina, and launched a blast of fire at the thing to seemingly no effect. Its charge only stopped when it reached him, and narrowly he dodged a claw-swing, conjuring half a dozen illusory reflections of himself. The crab monster swing its claws wildly, catching and dispersing two of the copies.

“Surrender.” the voice whispered, Illarion suspected only to him, as he and his doubles traded a bolt of flame for another of their number, “Surrender and I may let you keep your miserable life.”

“Never!” Illarion declared. And then it hit him. One massive claw caught him around the chest and lifted him off the ground. Its grip was tight, driving all the breath from Illarion.

“Then die, vermin.” the mental voice replied.

The pressure increased, and Illarion heard a hideous cracking sound from his own body. The pain overwhelmed all other sensation. Then, his world went black entirely.

***

Aria watched in horror as the massive crab lifted Illarion Vale up, then cast him aside like a rag doll. It had taken them all by surprise, and now this?! Still frozen by shock, between Mari insensate and Illarion in gods knew what state, Aria was only brought back to reality when a shimmering barrier halted a massive claw-strike and kept Marina and the priestess from suffering a perhaps worse fate yet.

Someone, Morgan she thought, shouted, “That won't hold!”

Then the pale woman, Larasa, moved forward, and called up a wave of water from behind the cowering woman, crashing it into the momentarily unbalanced crab and knocking the abomination away from the altar and onto its back.

Aria moved. She focused herself, and summoned more echos of the wolves she had once known to spring upon the beast, but it was quick with its snapping claws and flailing limbs, and they only served to slow the fiend righting itself.

“Bombs away, chaps!” the winged viashino in the tophat shouted, before a firey boulder, conjured from nothing, landed on the upturned crab with a crunch. It flailed for a moment, and managed to get its legs under it once more, but Aria could see that its top-shell was cracked, revealing a flowing mass of ink-like goo within.

This was no living thing, then. If it was some device, some spell, perhaps Aria could...

The warrior woman sprang upon it, and drove her spear into the crack, but the monster swung its claw and while it did not catch her, it sent her flying into the water. There was, Aria decided, no time to dither. She focused herself, and began to work green magic on the crab. For a moment, she saw the telltale verdigris that would mark her success, but white magic, of all things, resonated within the creature and stopped her spellcraft short. However much it looked like a brutish monster, this was a savvy, magical being. She wouldn't be able to bring it down alone.

Not knowing who else to turn to, Aria ran to Raleris, the only planeswalker conscious that was not on the other side of their enemy. “I can stop this thing.” she told the old man, who was for his part breathing hard and looking miserable, “I can stop it, but I need it distracted, do you hear me?”

Raleris nodded, “Distract it, yes... But I can't”

The centaur bounded over the miraculously still standing gift table, leaped onto the monsters back over its claws, and shoved the spear-shaft deeper into it before, as it bucked, bounding off and landing before the altar, about where Illarion made his stand.

The winged viashino, above, tried to conjure another boulder, but the crab beast was faster with its magic. Violet light erupted between them, and the viashino not only stopped his casting but barely made more of a hard landing than a crash on the next pier over.

“I... I might not be able.” Raleris murmured

“We are losing this fight,” Aria pleaded, “If you can't help, then tell me what I can do! That thing isn't a living creature, I should be able to destroy it-”

Raleris dusted himself off.

“Young lady,” he said, “That is no way to talk to your elders. Be ready, what follows... is the most I can do.”

Raleris focused himself... and then, they appeared: a horde of tiny, blue and pink little people with spindly limbs, ears like mice, and bodies like potatoes. The beebles bounced haplessly at the monster, and though it swung its mighty claws at them they were far smaller, and far more numerous than Aria's wolves had been, and soon the little things were, however harmlessly, swarming all over it, even crawling into its shell where it was cracked. The creature snapped and flailed, and Aria decided she would not get a better chance.

She focused, and the raw power of life, and nature's indignation at the thing before her flowed through her, and into it. At first it was covered with quick growing moss, but then it began to collapse. The giant crab, now blossoming green, began to fall to pieces, its claws and legs dissolving until what was left was a massive heap of mulch, moss, grass, and wildflowers with a silver spear buried into the top of the hill of life. The dirt roiled, and a small black shape burst from it, as had burst from the man in the suit before.

“Don't let it escape!” Larasa shouted. The centaur fired an arrow, and it sliced through one of the trailing tendrils of the thing, severing it cleanly, and the creature fell to earth. At once the swordsman was upon it, and plunged his blade earthwards where it flopped, but he struck only stone, for the being had vanished in a ripple of aether

“Where is it?” the man with the sword demanded, looking about wildly. “Where did it go?”

“It planeswalked.” Raleris proclaimed. Aria looked, and saw that the old man looked even older. His voice was rasping and strained, and he was hunched over seemingly with pain. Aria moved quickly to try to support him.

“I will be... fine.” he whispered, “Just a momentary scare, that's all. We should see to the wounded.”

Raleris stood straight, leaning nothing on Aria, and Aria's eyes darted. Mari Gwynn shifted slightly on the ground with a faint groan, and on the far pier she saw the commotion as the viashino began to right himself and rise. Illarion... Aria couldn't see him. She sprinted over the remains of the crab thing and down the other side, to where those on that side were all crowded around together. Aria pushed her way through, and saw Illarion Vale, perfectly still where Marina cradled him.

“He needs a healer!” Aria shouted. “Mari – she can fix this! We just have to bring her to!” Aria started to turn to run back but a firm, wet hand clasped her on the shoulder. It was the spearwoman.

“Let me see.” she said. The small crowd parted a little, and the woman knelt down at Illarion's side. She held her hand over his mouth and nose, and pressed to either side of his throat. Then she laid a hand over his heart, and Aria's spirits fell when she noted how much the clothing gave to the touch. The spearwoman closed her eyes, and murmured some magic words as a tiny swirl of motes spread from where she touched.

Then the magic faded, and the woman withdrew her hand. Marina looked up at her, eyes full of tears, and the woman slowly shook her head.

“He is dead.” She proclaimed, “There is no healer now who can undo what has been done.”

***

Before the end, the sun had set over Rettrborg, the spring season affording such ordinary markers of time's passage to the northern city. By now, there was supposed to be music and merrymaking, perhaps even both fading as the grand party wore on the guests. Instead, there was silence, and a crowd gathered on the long dock, at the end of which a single ship was moored.

Larus, the northern prince who had attended the wedding on a lark for all Marina could tell, had acquired the ship for its great purpose, and asked no compensation, saying only that it was how things should be done. It was a very traditional long-ship, if a small one, its single sail billowing in the wind as it strained at the mooring line, Inside were heaped things – Straw and oil and pitch, of course; decorations brought for the wedding from Illarion's home, gifts brought for the wedding that Marina had mutely added, shields hastily painted by those guests who remained for the funeral with runes or marks of their well-wishes after the Northern fashion... and of course, at the center of it all, Illarion Vale.

He seemed so peaceful there, dressed in his wedding best with his most personal effects in a chest at his feet, his old coat folded carefully and placed beneath his head as a pillow, hands folded over his breast. Marina watched all these things be added to the ship, loading it with treasures and memories. She did not say a word when the Valkyrie arrived, though such an apparition would have caused her no end of wonder just a day before. The angel spoke with Larus for a time, then paid her own respects to the dead as they were readying him for his place. Marina saw her take a small compass needle from his coat pocket, and whisper to it, and when Illarion was laid in state she placed the needle upon his folded hands and it stood straight, though Marina could not say whether it pointed up or down.

After that, the Valkyrie had come to Marina.

“He was a good man.” she said, “Of that I can be certain. He died bravely as well. His soul shall find its way.”

Marina mumbled something that sounded like thanks, but could not take solace in the facts of her would-be husband's death when he had, in fact, died.

The wait thereafter was the worst part, and Marina spent most of it kneeling beside the ship, looking for a miracle as the waning rays of the sun and the light of fresh-lit lanterns played over his impossibly still features.

At last, Rani came up beside her.

“The wind and tide agree.” she said, “Now is... as auspicious a time as there can be for such a ceremony.”

And then she held out a blazing torch to Marina, and looked solemnly down.

“The honor should be yours.” Rani said.

Marina took the torch, gazing long into the crackling flames. If she did this, it was finished. This time, she wouldn't be able to deny what she had lost. This time, he wouldn't be coming back.

“I... can try to imagine how hard it must be.” Rani whispered, “If I could offer you any succor in this dark hour it would be my duty, for we stand here at least in part for my shortcomings. But all I can offer is what I have. If you wish to learn the way of the spear, and be a Shield Maiden, I can teach you. That is the most I can do. But however you want to live, you must first say your farewells.”

Sullen, silent, Marina nodded. She stepped onto that cursed ship, and walked to where Illarion rested. She wanted to whisper something to him, give some parting word of promise, but no words came to her lips. Tears in her eyes, she bent over and kissed him one last time, with all the softness and hesitation, passion and need of that first kiss now so long ago, that had been their first parting.

No miracle happened. He was as cold as the aurora that burned in the skies above, beautiful but unable to offer much succor when the world needed warmth. She straightened herself, and for a moment before turning back to the dock glanced to the compass needle.

It was pointing up.

Marina stepped back onto land, and turned to the ship. She raised her torch, and then cast it in the straw and pitch that had been heaped into the boat. At once, Rani and the Valkyrie released the lines that tethered the ship to the dock, and wind and tide bore it swiftly out to sea.

As the ship drifted away, it grew ever brighter. Flames engulfed the petty treasures, Illarion's body in its repose, and finally climbed to the sail, the pyre blazing into the distance like a second sunset before the darkness of night would inevitably set in. Marina went to the very edge of the pier and watched the burning ship. Planeswalkers came, and gave her condolences, elderly Raleris, the Kiriana the centaur, and Zouvek the dapper Viashino; shy and dour Aria and unearthly Mari Gwynn; all passed by and passed on until, when at last the guttering flames were eclipsed by the brightness of the Aurora on the horizon and not seen again with the next swell of the black waters beneath, only six souls remained: Prince Larus, the Valkyrie, Rani, Larasa, and Morgan. And with that final sight having been seen, those last two said their sad words, offered what little they could, and vanished into the night.

Those then left, Marina turn to, and at last she found her voice.

“Thank you, highness.” she told the prince with a bow of her head, “for all you have done in this dark hour.”

“You are welcome.” Larus replied, sounding earnest and perhaps faintly haunted by the scene, “Should you ever find yourself in Vindstadr, you will not want for a place to rest your head.”

The Valkyrie nodded assent to this. “My prince has learned well the way of hospitality.” she said, “Though chance, as some would call it, or Fate as would others, is what lead our paths to cross, do not think our offers of friendship hollow. May the winds that guide you bring you to better days.”

And the Valkyrie inclined her head, and lead Larus away down the pier, back to the light and noise of Rettrborg. Only Rani and Marina remained. Marina regarded the other woman.

“I don't know that I would make a good shield maiden.” she said, “But neither do I know what else I should make of myself. Can you give me... give me some time to decide whether or not... to follow you?”

“Of course.” Rani replied. “I shall remain three days in Rettrborg if you wish. After that, I am a friend to Skogul-" she indicated the Valkyrie with a slight nod of her head, "and I suppose to Larus and Vindstadr as well. If you ever do decide to take up arms, I shall not be impossible to find. For now, however, you should rest.”

“Thank you.” Marina said, and Rani inclined her head to her, and departed also.

Marina found no rest that night.

***

Marina stood, leaning against the railing between her and the rocky coast, turning the Mox Ring, her wedding ring for the wedding that never would be, over in her hands, watching the midday sun glint off its facets.

I should throw it into the ocean, she thought, should have set it on the funeral ship. It's caused too much trouble.

At the same time, it was what Illarion gave her. She looked out at the depths where the last light of his pyre had finally vanished, then to the ring again. Illarion wouldn't want her to keep it and cry whenever her eyes or fingers fell upon it, he wasn't cruel. But it seemed disrespectful to just throw it away, or even worse to sell it.

“Why the long face?” a quiet, sympathetic voice asked. Marina looked, and there was a somewhat exotic looking woman with long, red hair smiling at her.

“Oh...” Marina said, “Greetings.” She couldn't offer up anything more

“I'm Ellia.” the stranger said, “And you?”

“Marina.” she replied, and a bitter thought made her continue with the lie that should have been truth. “Marina Vale.”

“It's good to meet you, Marina.” Ellia said, sounding very earnest, “But you do seem troubled.”

“No.” Marina said emphatically, “No... it's all gone wrong already, and not for lack of me praying it would all go right.”

Ellia nodded, and her eyes seemed to plead with Marina to keep talking.

“He died.” she replied, “The man who was supposed to be my husband. Killed at the altar and we had a funeral instead. The Valkyrie said he was brave, and his spirit would meet a good end, but I'm a Heartland girl, you know? Only half believed to begin with.”

“You're a long way from home, then” Ellia said.

“I don't know.” Marina said, “I... my life had been waiting, and for what at least I understood. Now? Now where do I go?”

“You can talk about it over a mug of hot cider. My treat. After that, if you need a little something to get back on your feet. Well, if it's all rocks and metal to you I know a dwarf.” she nodded clearly to the ring.

“I can't sell it.” Marina muttered, “I... If I go back home, I've got a house full of things. I can... I can manage, but why?”

“If?” Ellia asked, “Oh, Marina.”

“It's not like that.” Marina said, “I wouldn't Just... A woman I met at the wedding. Rani. She said she'd teach me to fight. Make a Shield Maiden out of me. I don't think I'd really go back to my old home then.”

“But you must be considering it all the same, which means you're brave enough.” Ellia said, “I bet you're thinking 'oh! If I just knew how to fight!'. Don't think about like that. You can't change the past, heavens know I've tried, but having that power, being able to tell yourself and know you're telling true that you can take care of yourself and then some. That'll make you feel right as rain – I'm a mage myself, and there's nothing like having power at your fingertips, I have to imagine it'll be the same for a Shield Maiden. And some day, when you're good and ready, well... the good men like a woman with that kind of strength and stamina, if you know what I mean.”

Marina blushed, unwilling to even consider that reason... but deep down, the other spoke to her. She looked at her flimsy hand, limply holding her wedding ring, How much better would it feel to grip a spear tight?

“Thanks for the advice.” Marina said. She put her back to the sea, one hand, holding the ring, still resting on the railing. “I... I think I'll take it, before Rani changes her mind.”

All the same, Marina didn't move for a moment. Ellia looked at her, her smile fading as she traced the line of Marina's arm to the tiny burden anchoring her in place, anchoring her to the past.

“So,” she asked, “What are you going to do with that?”

Marina had her answer. Slowly, as though it was made of lead, she lifted one finger away from the golden band. Then another. Then another. Finally, she withdrew her hand, arm falling to her side.

“I guess I've just got to put it behind me.” she said, and marched resignedly, but with head held high, away from the docks.

At the stairs that lead from the board walk to the waterfront stores, she turned back and looked, but Ellia the Endbringer had already disappeared with her prize.

Are the events themselves causing confusion, or are you confused about events, because Aria cast naturalize on the husk-body that Dantalion had prepared earlier. Oh yeah and that other thing. I feel like I'll talk more about that after others have had a chance to comment.

No, I'm not actually confused - I followed the story perfectly. Er, I followed it well enough anyway.

I just. Well.

Super Spoilers (inasmuch as those exist at all?)

Having read most of your works (certainly all of the works you've lined up as suggested reading), I suppose you could say I was caught off-guard. Although that's not really a good way to describe it. Illarion has been with us for a long while now, he's gotten around, he's made friends... he's certainly been places. And so I opened this piece thinking, "Oh, he's getting married! About goddamn time."

And then it's PLOTTING and SKROLL SUNEATER and GIANT CRAB and-

7750 words and Illarion Vale is dead.

And after getting over the initial shock, I'm left feeling... hm. Dissatisfied is not the word I'm looking for. Maybe, introspective? Extrospective? That's not a word.

And you pulled all these characters together, and it just culminated in, essentially,

"Give me the ring!"

"No!"

"Then die!"

"Curses, I am dead!"

...which is super simplistic and sort of insulting, and for that, I apologize. But you've got so much VIGOR and PERSONALITY in the story to work with. You've got- You've got Raleris the Lorekeeper! And an ACTUAL unicorn! And characters I've never seen/don't remember very well for reason that aren't your fault! At a wedding! And they get attacked by a parasite planeswalker that infests a giant crab...

and ALL that happens is that Illarion dies, and Ellia gets the Mox ring? After a rather short battle with someone whom I KNOW is powerful. Someone whose eternal freedom is on the line? He just planeswalks off? Urgh.

I'm explaining this poorly and coming across as condescending.

Look, far be it from me to even insinuate how this story should have gone. I don't know what you have planned! I've written stories people have disagreed with as well! It's just... the story is very fast-paced, which is fine, but a well-liked and important characters was killed at the end of it with little fanfare or dramatic build up. I suppose that's not how real life is, and when mildly ordinary individuals are made into targets by oldwalkers, this is probably what can be expected to happen. Still.

Sigh. I dunno. I guess I was expecting something more of a spectacle, and all I got as a murder, you know? That's probably a problem with my expectations, and not with your story.

I would have liked to see some more visceral reactions from Illarion's friends, however. Or heard what they had to say.

Anyway, despite all this rambling, I did enjoy this piece. I enjoyed it enough to ramble on at length! Even if it didn't add much.

I'll have a longer discussion later, but for nowThe centaur and Viashino are new. While I tried to set up Illarion's connection to everyone else familiar there, I kind of wanted to include folks the audience hadn't previously witnessed, so Zouvek and Kiriana came to be.

I will probably edit Dantalion's defeat to have it be a clearer death-alternative escape. Made a minor touchup in Ellia's demands and another at the end of the fight.

The events here are huge. You have several scenes where the characters would be beside themselves with nervousness, joy, excitement, fear, anger, grief, or anticipation. I should be feeling that with them.

The stilted, passionless writing style drains that all away.

That said, I enjoy seeing things from Marina's perspective, both as guests arrive, and as she makes her decision. And I applaud you for making such a bold decision with such a major character. I'm curious to see how events play out.

I liked the story quite a bit. I knew (or at least strongly suspected) from the required reading that things were not going to end well. The moment I saw "Dantalion Dossier" as a minimum reading requirement, I knew the ceremony wasn't going to be fun for basically anyone. That said, what actually happened was NOT what I expected. I thought Dantalion was going to infest Marina, or potentially even worse, Illarion himself. I was really surprised when Illarion died.

Now, I think we should talk a little bit about that, because it's a huge moment in the M:EM. We joke around a lot about how I like to be cruel to my characters and to kill them off...and I do. But I think I'm right in saying that Illarion is the first of our "main" characters to die in a story. My memory may be failing me here, but I can't think of others. Oh, sure, we've seen planeswalkers die. I've killed off my share, and so have you, Tevish. But never a character who has been the protagonist of multiple stories like Illarion has. As a community, we don't pull that trigger very often, and I think that's good, because it lends a lot of gravity to this story and this situation.

I was stunned when Illarion died, and I think it was well done.

Let's talk, also, about Illarion. Illarion was a fun-loving, disarming character. He was someone who wanted to stay out of things, but was compelled to do what he felt was right despite that desire. He was a good character, and someone I liked having around. But he was also a very low-powered planeswalker in a Multiverse that preys on anyone but those who refuse to be preyed upon. He was overconfident and hasty in his actions, and despite everything he's seen, including with his sister on Shandrovol, he was sort of blind to the evils of the Multiverse. When he traded for the Ring, he got in over his head, and while he couldn't have known that, when you get in over your head with planeswalkers like Ellia and Dantalion, things don't go well. I'm not saying Illarion had to die, or certainly that he deserved to, but I am saying I understand why he did.

The other thing Illarion was, outside the realm of the narrative itself, was a walking Chekov's Gun. He was a planeswalker who could bring non-planeswalkers across the Blind Eternities. How many of our characters would have LOVED to have met Illarion? What would Tryst have given to run into him? How much would Jade have loved to meet him and ask him to intercede on the behalf of Thatis and Symparu? Now obviously, in the vastness of Dominia, there is no reason those people would have to meet, but planeswalkers seem supernaturally drawn to each other, and eventually, those questions would start to come up. The more people each character meets, the closer you come to a critical mass. What are the odds, for instance, that Jade doesn't mention to Raleris that she's trying to unite two lovers bound on separate planes, and Raleris says, "Oh, wait, I know a guy who can do that."?

I don't know if these are the reasons Tevish decided that it was Illarion's time, though Tevish, if you're willing to share, I would really love to know. As I said, this is a very big moment for the M:EM.

As for characters' reactions to Illarion's death, I didn't think anything of it. They were stunned. They were shocked. And sometimes, let's face it, there is nothing to say. Besides which, how well did Illarion know these people? He probably knew Raleris the best, but Raleris, being as ancient as he is, would be more accustomed to seeing his friends die (not that he'd be callous to it, but he's probably seen it a LOT.) Also keep in mind that the story jumps from the moment of his death to the moment of his send-off. Things were probably said. Tears were probably shed. I thought the funeral scene was very nicely done, and it felt touching to me.

That was my take on the whole thing, anyway.

As to the rest of the story, there were little things that I liked. I liked the sort of story-swapping that Illarion and Marina do in the beginning, and there's something about the image of Illarion sitting, smiling, and listening intently to stories that are inherently far less interesting than his that I really love. That was a great touch, because I think it shows how much Illarion truly does love Marina in a way that that line about her seeing the honesty in his face just can't convey.

I love the subtle power-level display you do with Ellia here. She doesn't do anything in this story, really. But because of what she says, the way Dantalion reacts to her, and then the show of power Dantalion gives later in the story, it sends a pretty clear message of Ellia's strength. We know she's very old, but honestly, we've never seen much of her "power," and so I really like this little subtle reminder that she's not just old. She's very, very dangerous. She's known as "The Endbringer" for a reason.

I also loved the wedding gathering. The Centaur and the winged Viashino did throw me for a loop momentarily. I've probably read something like 90-95% of the Archive, so I figured it was unlikely that I had missed them, but I did find myself wondering. Still, I like the decision to add in other 'walkers we haven't seen yet, because it hints that these characters do, in fact, have lives beyond just what we see in their stories.

I was really surprised by the way Ellia took the ring at the end. I mean, I know she sort of delights in deception, but she could have easily killed Marina, or knocked her out, or done any number of things to just obtain the ring. I find it very interesting that, of all the things she could have done, she choose to basically give her kind, even potentially sound, advice. It's interesting.

Much as I did at the close of "Phantoms of the Past," I sort of find myself hoping that Dantalion doesn't survive. That dude pisses me off...

I did notice a number of typos (what can I say? It's hard to turn off the whole English Professor thing...) so that would be something to scan for, and also a number of missing end punctuations. But again, we all do that.

Thanks for sharing this story, Tevish! And, if you feel like it, I would be fascinated to hear what led you to this decision, and how you feel at the loss of one of your oldest characters.

Illarion Vale is (was) one of the oldest characters in the M:EM. Keter, and Ordinary Day was some of the first stuff done after we established our own group on the mothership. So, his arc has been evolving for a very long time. The earliest version of the arc went “Homecoming, Corrosion, start buddying up with Aria, Ordinary Day actually happens, more adventures for The Doctor Illarion and River Song Aria.” Then Homecoming happened, and things didn't go as planned. Marina Ells happened. The arc changed to “Homecoming, Corrosion, Wedding, more adventures”. Yes, more adventures. When I started plotting out where Illarion would go after writing Homecoming I did have the nuclear idea for A Wedding on Aralheim. It crystalized more as time went on but at first I wanted the ending to be that they have a happy ceremony after defusing an oncoming threat, but Marina has developed a taste for adventure and suggests they honeymoon on Dominaria, so Illarion has his cake and eats it too, traveling the planes with his new wife.

But as I drew ever closer to the event itself, and pulled it into sharper view, that future just stopped being something I could really do. It was after I got the setup with Dantalion and Ellia that things shifted. I looked at the pieces I'd set up and I realized that Ellia wasn't going to lose. There wasn't going to be a jolly, everybody lives ending. I realized that where this was going, Illarion Vale was going to die.

So I launched into his farewell tour: The Ring (to an extent), Parts Unknown (which turned out a ton more epic and darker than I intended), and Day Trip (Which turned out lighter and softer than I intended). I will say that even with his history, my biggest fear going into A Wedding on Aralheim that people wouldn't really give a hoot about Illarion Vale. I'm still pretty sure he never resonated with the crowd the same way that the real M:EM legends like Jackie and Beryl do, which I guess in some ways made this easier. After all, while the death of a C-List character doesn't have the kind of gravitas I wanted here, its longer reaching effects are more bearable for the metaplot. Though it seems like he certainly had some recognition and attachment, at least, for which I am very grateful. But I couldn't put this off forever. I mean, I could go back and write the little adventures when he was traveling with Kyara, but I had to accept that this was happening, and keep moving forward. After all, there's more to reach.

So then I had to know how it was going to happen. I considered a lot of angles, between a direct confrontation with Ellia (nope), a mutual-kill with Dantalion (I needed him) or any variety of epic ends that would make Radha and Barrin proud. But while his death was determined by the odds that he was facing, his fate was determined at least in part by Illarion himself. Illarion was never an epic man, and he needed, in a way to die as he lived: Noble, with at least an intended purpose, but not big. Never big. Another factor that effected it was the villain again. But not Dantalion this time, Ellia. The thing is, Ellia bears Illarion no malice. She may not have even known his name. She didn't set out to kill him, he's just collateral damage, something that she doesn't care about. It's, to an extent, the follow-up of Riddles and Rime (by which point I know where I was going with Wedding). Ellia is something vast and deadly, and she leaves sorrow and destruction in her wake just by existing. She wants something, doesn't even appear for what is the main story to anyone else, and there's just this tragedy all around her. Illarion's death is small in the grand scheme of things, it's small in scale. Some of the specifics have some homage elements, but by in large we're seeing the Endbringer bringing an end to something she doesn't care about.

If I have any regrets about this, it's about the plot threads I've left dangling now. Illarion will never return to Shandrovol, never re-encounter Ophelia nor confront his corrupted sister. I think I can and probably will address that world with other characters, assuming no one else wants to talk to me and take it on themselves, but there is something that's not fit or finished in Illarion going out before then. But then, that's how death is: threads are left dangling, not wrapped up cleanly with a shrug and a comment of “Well, the narrative doesn't need you anymore, so this won't hurt.”

So where am I going next, you might wonder? Well, I've got some stories left to tell. I could tell stories of adventures Illarion had with Kyara, or how he met the new characters in this one, Zouvek and Kiriana. But that's not really where I'm going. I may well go after Rani's encounter with Skoll, which is a story I wanted to write before this one but didn't feel like I had to, that I could imply it. There is more to that arc, which I might tell because it's more conducive to me telling it in shorts that I can tackle, the facts of Skoll and the future of Rani and Marina... but where I'm really wanting to go with this is Adrisar. The Big Adrisar Project, or Ashes of Adrisar as I've titled it. It's where Ellia and the Mox Ring are going next, but the entire thing is going to be novel size, the epic that A Wedding on Aralheim wasn't.

It's going to take me a long time to get there, though, and there are a lot more paths that I could follow. For one, there's the story of Aralheim. There are the situations not related at all to this story. The “Dark Ravnica” cycle still needs to be completed, the Tattered King is running about, there's a big project with Lourima hovering in group indecision, I could go places with Mattias, Sorinne, and Kala... there's a lot to work on in the M:EM and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also probably going to half take a break from producing so I can finish the novel I'm 90k words and neck deep in. We could see some short stories out of me if inspiration strikes, but it won't be the production of the last few weeks.

To make specific replies...

Spoiler

About the mood at the funeral: I didn't think the story would be stronger by spending hours with these characters crying. In the actual funeral scene, Marina has already shed her tears, though more will probably come when she's alone with her thoughts for a long time yet. We're in her point of view so we're not seeing it but her face is red, her eyes are bloodshot, she's a disheveled wreck. And some of the guests are just as bad off. But for now, she's thrown herself into the work of setting up the funeral for all this woe, her heart is heavy and part of her is just plain dead. Empty. Sorrow has left a void and the words that Aria and Raleris and so on say, their own condolences and sharing of grief – we don't hear them, because Marina isn't present enough to really register the exacts. And I think most of those there understand that. Aria, Mari, Larasa, Morgan, Raleris... none of these are people who have lived without sorrows. She finally hears and speaks only at the very end. I honestly thought this atmosphere, oppressive and hollow, served better than one that was wallowing in active despair and wailing.

About the Aubedore Reading: I would like to thank Raven for his help with this. I knew I wanted the reading at the end of Day Trip to subtly foretell the fate that awaited Illarion in this story: The Dragon is both a matter of power (such as an Oldwalker – Dantalion) and Fire, while the fish represents Water. Hopefully that reads decently clearly as the “Viking” funeral set for him. (I am aware that the on-the-water ship pyre is largely mythical. Also extremely expensive but a literal prince is footing the bill for the wood, straw, oils, and boat.) On a tangent to that, I knew I wanted him to have the big funeral because death is too cheap in media sometimes. We, the viewers, needed more than if the story had ended on Rangrid's line confirming his demise. So his body burned, the last fragments of his bones no doubt lie at the bottom of the sea off the coast of Rettrborg. His soul may have gone on to some reward but we won't be seeing an Illarion who surprisingly escaped an apparent death, or Einherjar Illarion (One Valkyrie was right there, another attended the funeral), or Illarion in the afterlife of Ashkanar. He's done, absolutely and without reprieve. Cremation does that. I needed to be firm, I felt.

About Ellia getting the Ring: Yeah, it is kind of interesting that she actually rather helps Marina as a side effect of her scheme isn't it? Well, there are two reasons for that and neither of them is pity. The first is that Ellia has been breaking things at every scale for untold ages, so she knows how things break. She can get the ring with talk and knows it because she can almost 100% know everything Marina is thinking at this stage of grief, at least after she sees the girl. The second reason is that talk is cheap. Yeah, she could just kill Marina and steal the Mox Ring but she can still do that if she fails to convince Marina to part with it via words. On the other hand, if she just plain attacks, she WILL win but she might also have to face up that after a pitched battle at a wedding against a horrible monster Rettrborg is going to be on high alert, including the fact that Skogul and Rani are not the only Valkyries in the city. Yeah, Ellia still wins that if she wants to but it's a bother. Doing things the easy way is generally best and compared to swindling Marina, killing the girl is marginally harder.

About Raleris: I talked with Keeper about potential guests, Raleris came up. Keeper pointed out that while Raleris is old, wise, and potent he pretty much can't use magic without progressing his Phthisis. If we see a Raleris story after this story, I think (based on what keeper said) it's this that sticks with him: He might have have prevented this by making a bigger move earlier. He might have been able to save Illarion's life. But with the unknowable cost of taking a large action in the heat of the moment, rather than calculating the most efficient way to do things and striking with absolute precision (which for all its appearances is what the beebles did) and the uncertainty that he'd improve another outcome before worsening his own too much... he couldn't not choose the same actions again, just hoping for other random factors to provide a better outcome.

About Illarion as a Chekov's Gun: Honestly, this didn't figure into the decision to see him die here, that was determined by Ellia and Illarion's needs and what seemed to be the way things would play out when their intrests came into conflict the way that they did. It is an advantage, and I think it's funny you should mention Jade: when I was first batting this about with Keeper he suggested Jade as a possible wedding guest. I didn't go with her, but it's easy to see what might have followed if I had. While this wasn't a reason, I do think it's a good thing. As per another thread...

Illarion is, currently, the only person that we know of who can bring a companion through the Blind Eternities. However, I can think of at least three other methods in M:EM continuity that might be able to accomplish the same thing. Jade, however, does not currently know about any of them.

One of those three methods (whether one you were counting or not) is the Tattered King (well, the Annulus, but the King has it right now and divesting him of it would be extremely difficult considering that the undead don't sleep), and rather than chipper and helpful Illarion that's a much different picture. One that is honestly a ton more interesting. (EDIT: Though wouldn't it just be great if Tryst heard about him through someone who wasn't at the wedding and didn't know the results, like Nasperge, and then spent time and energy and went through hell trying to track him down only to discover he had died?)

Which brings me to Raven's question about how I feel about Illarion's death. I feel... at peace with it. I'm a little sad that he's not going to be around anymore, but there's no rule that his stories have to be written in chronological order, or even by me, so the large gaps between his ascension and Homecoming, Homecoming and Corrosion, and Corrosion and Ordinary Day/The Ring provide opportunities for someone who wants to use him to bring him back without resurrecting him as I endeavored to make as impossible as you can. I'm relieved that this chapter is done. I've devoted a lot of brain cycles to Illarion's arc since the start of the M:EM, and now that it's reached a conclusion I find it's one I'm satisfied with. There are still these far-off plots that I want to tell “eventually” but I actually got to something that started as one of them. It's an accomplishment not unlike when I've finally been able to declare a much longer work “done”. So there's a little sadness but I for one regret nothing.

(EDIT: Though wouldn't it just be great if Tryst heard about him through someone who wasn't at the wedding and didn't know the results, like Nasperge, and then spent time and energy and went through hell trying to track him down only to discover he had died?)

Aaaand, if anyone needs me, I'll be eating a pint of ice cream, and rocking back and forth as I cry myself to sleep...

I'm still pretty sure he never resonated with the crowd the same way that the real M:EM legends like Jackie and Beryl do, which I guess in some ways made this easier. After all, while the death of a C-List character doesn't have the kind of gravitas I wanted here, its longer reaching effects are more bearable for the metaplot.

Can I just emphatically disagree with the idea that Illarion was a C-lister? I think that he was and is one of the real great characters in the M:EM, and I, for one, am deeply, deeply grateful that you shared his stories with us, Tevish. Deeply, deeply grateful.

* * *

Anyway, I have way more thoughts about this story than I can really get out of my brain in any kind of coherent shape at this time of night, so I will try to do so tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll just content myself with thanking Tevish for sharing this story -- thanks, Tevish!

Since this story seems to be a big deal I'd like to have read all the related works to enjoy it at its best; this means that I'll need some time to get through Phantoms of the Past and the related bonus contest before I can read and comment on this one. Luckily Search-ing the forums allowed me find them, since Google has no access to the main stories (and even NGA wiki hasn't, weirdly).

So... well, see you in a couple of days I guess.

EDIT: I unexpectedly managed to get at the bottom of this within the day, will add my comments to this post.

Spoiler

Before speaking about Illarion a bit, I'd like to thank Tevish for sharing this story, and appreciate the aplomb and the ease with which Ellia picks up her prize at the end. Simple and efficient.

I'll start saying that I may be one of those who gave Tevish the impression that some M:EMbers didn't care much for Illarion, which is... kinda true? But while Illarion per se doesn't kindle my sympathy (as for the reason, for the love of me I've no idea), he was the center of some very intriguing stories. Just to name two: Corrosion has so many good ideas, and being a lover of tales and meta I enjoyed The Ring a lot. Interestingly, both of them are somewhat related to this story. Corrosion shows that even Dominia has a poor dramatic sense, spelling the doom of Illarion's sister with no chance for him to save her: no last moment rush, no daring and thrilling rescue plan, it all happens off-screen and he can only live with All That Remains. (Dragon Age II reference)The Ring is more clearly tied with this piece, and in relation to this piece it hammers down again the fact that while there can be serene moments as Day Trip, Dominia is not a nice place and in the Multiverse legends are not just ancient fairy tales. Could Illarion marry Marina and live serenely ever after? Sure; our Jackie is a living proof that you indeed can turn your back to the Multiverse and thrive unheeded and overlooked. But you have to let everything of your past life go - no poetic souvenirs, no hard-won trophies, and Illarion simply couldn't do the former. He set the foot in so many places within Dominia, and the Multiverse left a deep mark in him in return.

As for the dynamics of his death... I liked them. Tevish used the very same expression I was thinking about when I reached the end of the piece:

Collateral damage.

Illarion was in the way between two monsters and their prize. In the off-chance that Dantalion was to be overcome, even killed off for good by the gathering of planeswalkers, Illarion had no power to stand against Ellia, or any of her possible agents in the long period. Since Ellia had manifested her desire for the Ring I knew that it was going to end in blood, one way or the other - and by this I mean that either Illarion or Marina were gonna die. I wonder how many planeswalkers would be able to protect their loved one(s) indefinitely from a determined Dantalion without basically cutting them away from civilization, for that matter.

And as Tevish says, it's not like Illarion could make an heroic grand last stand. He was never a warrior to begin with, and he was well aware of this. As a carefree traveler he dodged quite a number of metaphorical and literal bullets, and I guess it couldn't last forever; he was eventually trampled in a basic ploy of an oldwalker, his blood a nameless drop in the ocean spilled by two timeless monstrosities. Sobering, sure, but far from implausible. He had a number of mourners at his funeral, though, and that's not something to scoff at in Dominia.

If I could summarize my thoughts in a few words to leave in the burning boat, I guess I'd go with:

Farewell, Illarion Vale. I may have not loved you, but you were a good travel companion.

First of all, I am absolutely shocked that you killed off Illarion like this. I mean, not to downplay what you actually did here, but I always figured he'd find something on some far-off plane that was way over his head (such as the recent encounter with evil McFisco-schtick whose name I forget) rather than, you know, actually die in battle like some adventure or action movie star.

Secondly, I both agree and disagree with Brentain about the emotions presented in this piece. I was just completely stunned when I read that Illarion had died, and that sense of grief-filled denial filled me pretty much until the final words of the story, and I think from the moment he's proclaimed you actually set the mood well. However, at the same time I feel that the lead-up to is too light, to quick, ultimately too detached for what it should be. Like Brentain said, this should be a time of great joy, celebration, and nervousness, but before Dantalion interrupts the service the only real moment we as readers spend with any of the characters are 1. a moment with Ellia and Dantalion, and 2. a moment with Skogul, Larus, and Rangrid. I feel like neither of these particularly serve as good replacements for time we should be spending with at the very least the guests. Even Marina's greeting of Illarion's many and varied friends goes by in a flash, seeming mostly for us to make mental notes (or in my case, digital notes) of who's there.

What it feels like, to me, is that you started with the end and then added on all these additional parts to the beginning. Mostly the middle part from Ellia's introduction in the story through to Dantalion's objection, where we seem to be treated to fluff and haste; because I would think if you tried to write out the entire scene of Illarion and Marina trading stories it would lose its luster quickly.

I'm also going to admit that I have never actually read Shadows of the Past (and in fact if memory serves I haven't uploaded it yet due to formatting), but Dantalion's appearance here easily explains his basic goals, power, and position among other characters. Point is, I wasn't really left wondering just who the hell this guy was.

On the other hand, I felt like I had missed something if not important than hugely enjoyable when Zouvek came into play. A gentleman dragon man? I wanna hear more about him! I was almost let down when I discovered he was a new character, though I'll stand by your decision to include characters that we hadn't seen as relations with Illarion. I mean, it's implied he's had a lot of adventures off-screen pretty much at all times, but I think none moreso than with Ordinary Day.

That reminds me... do you think Illarion tried tracking down Renn Winmoore? Because if you'll remember, in Renn's first story where he meets Vasilias, he said he had met "a tourist".

So, rambling aside, do I like this? Yes. Would I vote it in? I'd have to consider it. I think it can be improved, but the overall effect is complete.

Oh, Lord, reading this was just like a punch in the gut. I mean, we know that things are going to end badly, from the moment that Ellia and Dantillion get to talking.

But, still, there was a part of me that was holding out hope that they wouldn't end this badly.

When it happened, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I kept waiting for the resurrection, or the clever spell, or the puckish reveal of how Illarion had duped everyone, and had made just one more improbable escape in a long line of improbable escapes.

And I managed to hold it together pretty well... until that moment with the compass needle.

That was when the waterworks turned on.

That little sentence about the compass is damn good writing, which, unfortunately for me, had the narrative effect of getting pepper-sprayed in the face.

Anyway, I know that this is just a stepping stone on the path to a much larger story, but, for the moment, I find myself hard-pressed to care much about that. Ellia can go to Hell, and she can take her damn ring with her. For now, I'm just going to miss Illarion.

Illarion was witty, and charming, and fun, in a multiverse that needs more of all three of those things. The M:EM will have a little less spark now that he's gone.

Thanks again for sharing, Tevish. This is a big one, and it leaves a mark.

Luna's post reminded me of a few things I didn't include in my first post, where I focused almost exclusively on Illarion; so here's a few extra thoughts.

Spoiler

About Luna's post: Illarion's death doesn't the end of a 'action movie star'; it actually reminds me more of the death of a sidekick. And this is a major point, I think: much of his life has been spent as a side character, in a way, exploring new places but leaving the spotlight on others' stories; Ordinary Day, Corrosion, The Ring, all those stories are not focused on him, from a meta point of view he was little more than a vehicle for us to reach the tales of others. (Corrosion is a hybrid, having a focus on Illarion's family as well as on the troubled plane of... Shandrovol, if I remember well) In a way, it's just fitting that his death was collateral damage.

But I do agree with Luna's objections about the space given to each part of the story. Using an online word counter, the Illarion's homecoming is around 500 words, Ellia and Dantalion meeting is about 700 words (and that's ok by my book, it's a subtle hint that the oldwalker's plans are more important than the 'retirement' of a young traveler of worlds) and the part with the prince and the Valkyries is little more than 1200 words (almost a sixth of the whole piece!); as much as I want to learn more about Skoll (and believe me, I do) this is way too much space given to storylines that have basically no relevance to this piece, in my opinion. I believe it would be better to significantly trim that part until the word count is around, say, 600.At the same time, Marina's part before the wedding could stand to be a bit longer and more descriptive about her feelings, both to build up the adequate tension and to have a stronger mood whiplash when it all goes south.

As I said, I have no objection about Illarion's end; I have a few doubts, though, about Dantalion's behaviour.The parasite was given enough time to prepare a bunch of shells and summons (Ellia doesn't explicitly say how many time it is, but it seems it's at least a few days), and then he fails so utterly that it's a bit lackluster. Knowing that Dantalion is the same vermin that plotted for years to manipulate the Ythol court into making the Annulus, it's surprising how poor his plan is when the reward is basically eternal life. He barges in head first making that dramatic declaration when he couldn't benefit in any conceivable way from this behaviour; he could get close to Marina just as the wedding ended with any excuse (even along the lines of 'the ring your good husband gave you seemed gorgeous from the back rows. Can I give it another look?') and then enter her body or just rip her finger/hand off and planeswalk away. His dossier says that he has little patience, but his actions are close to stupidity from my point of view, so I would gladly accept some insight on the matter.As a side note, it's good to know he will be on Ellia's leash for a while, as he failed quite spectacularly in his task.

(EDIT: Though wouldn't it just be great if Tryst heard about him through someone who wasn't at the wedding and didn't know the results, like Nasperge, and then spent time and energy and went through hell trying to track him down only to discover he had died?)

Aaaand, if anyone needs me, I'll be eating a pint of ice cream, and rocking back and forth as I cry myself to sleep...

On the plus side, imagine the resolve she might come out with. "Now I know it's possible. I just have to find a way." leading her to redoubling her efforts since while no immediate solution is present there now exists the promise of one!

Oh, man, okay. Oh, Lord, reading this was just like a punch in the gut. I mean, we know that things are going to end badly, from the moment that Ellia and Dantillion get to talking.

But, still, there was a part of me that was holding out hope that they wouldn't end this badly.

When it happened, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. I kept waiting for the resurrection, or the clever spell, or the puckish reveal of how Illarion had duped everyone, and had made just one more improbable escape in a long line of improbable escapes.

This was the response I kind of expected, and part of why I did things the way I did. It influenced Rani being present, and the decision to go through with a whole funeral rather than largely cutting it at the first declaration.

I'll start saying that I may be one of those who gave Tevish the impression that some M:EMbers didn't care much for Illarion, which is... kinda true?

Eeh, it was more my own general analysis. Illarion wasn't in a TON of stories -- before this last whirlwind tour, just three, and they'd been spaced years apart. So I worried that while an old character he hadn't really reached people.

On a side note, anyone interested in at least mini-dossiers for Zouvek and Kiriana?

I always liked Illarion quite a bit. His interactions with the people he meets were always a bit wild, and a lot of fun, and he had a personality that really made him likeable. I also love, as I've said before, the fact that he's not a powerful mage, and he knows it, but yet he can do that one little thing that basically no other contemporary planeswalker can do. I really like that.

Also, I just love that he was a self-described tourist. Because come on, let's face it. If the Multiverse were real, and you (anyone) suddenly became a planeswalker, who wouldn't want to travel to seen the infinite sights?

Zouvek comes from a culture of high society. His home plane is tamed and urbanized, with a good deal of "unfortunate history" behind it that resulted in viashino culture, among others, being quashed and the viashino people (again, among others) absorbed into the dominant mainstream. The great expansion and the wars that tamed the continent are over two hundred years ago now, and Zouvek was born as a fourth-generation member of high society, his ancestors more recent than the days of dragon-cultists shrewd merchants who entered the ranks of the new rich and stayed there. As such, he conducts himself as a proper and respectable gentleman, always sure to keep himself in finely tailored suits, with a beaver-felt top hat upon his emerald-scaled head and a monocle perched on his draconic snout to correct his slightly uneven vision. He maintains his manners even at the worst of times and generally prefers long words and flowery speech, displaying his significant intellect. Since being nearly killed in an accident while overseeing his family's steel mill, he has used his ability to venture into the planes to broaden his personal horizons: most of his aims end at home, but learning and self-improvement are goals that can be progressed in the planes. Despite his good breeding and high culture, his magic comes from the base, primal viashino tradition, conjuring and manipulating earth and fire -- it is the one relic of Viashino culture left, surviving because magic in the mainstream is a skill passed from parents to children with noble houses jealously hoarding their spellcraft, and the Viashino learned to do the same.

Zouvek appreciates high art such as opera and chamber music, and detests rudeness, lewdness, and cacophonous or ugly situations. He's not a young dragonman anymore, but his kind lead longer lives than do humans so neither is her particularly old.

KirianaFemale CentaurHome Plane: Not Widely KnownAscension: CombatNotable Magic: Arcane Arrows such as flaming and explosive arrows. Anti-artifact spellcraft. Some petty healing magic.Appearance: Kiriana has the bulk body of a palomino horse and the upper body of a woman in her very late teens, with golden blonde hair kept in braids and green eyes. The skin on her upper body is naturally fair but bronzed by the sun to a slightly ruddy tan. She has tattoos on her left upper arm, the back of her right hand, and below her human navel, all ceremonial in nature. She wears a long strip of cloth wound around her breasts and across her shoulders for modesty and support, leather bracers, and a leather headband. In colder conditions, she'll wear a doeskin jacket over her upper torso She carries her bow and quiver of arrows with her along with a pack.

Kiriana grew up among one of many centaur tribes on her home plane, most of which held bitter rivalries or uneasy truces towards each other. Because of their heavily factional nature, the Centaurs faced an omnipresent threat of colonization and assimilation (or extermination) by what they called the 'citykind' -- Humans, Vedalken, Aven, and others who turned to a combination of magic and artifice to make wonders rather than living content with what the land provided. Kiriana herself was raised the daughter of one of her clan's war-leaders, taught to use a bow from as soon as she could hold it, becoming one of the best shots in the tribe and learning to augment her archery with magic besides. After a particularly bleak winter, one of the neighboring, rival tribes to Kiriana's took unthinkably desperate action: they sold their own ancestral grounds to the citykind in exchange for mercenaries to help them conquer the grounds of their neighbors. Both selling land and bringing outsiders into centaur warfare were unthinkable to other tribes, and Kiriana's was caught completely unprepared. The 'mercenaries' her rivals brought were golems, countless artifact soldiers swarming the hillsides and fighting without fatigue... or mercy. Kiriana's people could outrun them, but they couldn't escape, and the golem forces would catch up if they dared to rest. The tribe made its last stand hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and despairing, and was quickly overwhelmed. Under the direction of their centaur employers, the golems slaughtered the men and any women or girls who dared to resist (which was most of them). Kiriana herself was one of the last fighters to fall, for she was young and nimble, better able to exert herself after the days on the trail, spending every arrow she had and then some attempting to hold off the metal horde before being finally surrounded and dragged to earth... at which point her planeswalker spark ignited and took her from the killing fields.

Lost in the planes with no home to return to Kiriana set herself to wander. She was consumed by grief but she also was (still is) quite young, and while she lacks a cohesive purpose beyond faint dreams of avenging her clan, she's thrown herself into living with full vigor. Kiriana is generally a kind sort, but despite this and despite not really begrudging the citykind for their role in what happened, she both hates and fears artificers and artifact creatures, and has to be restrained either by circumstance or a third party from trying to kill them. It's not that she wants to hunt down artificers and their creations, but they trigger an unreasoning fight-or-flight response and she almost always ends up in 'fight'. When not faced with such a trigger she's generally cheerful and fiesty. Besides artificers and golems, Kiriana dislikes rain, swimming, and most vegetables. She likes archery, red meat, being the center of attention, and though she is ashamed to admit it due to many centaurs finding it demeaning, enjoys the feeling of carrying a person on her back.

@Zouvek and Kiriana: Cool! I like them both. Two questions, out of curiosity. 1. Do you have any plans for them in terms of their own stories? and 2. Did they know one another before the Wedding? I got the sense that they were acquainted, but that may have only been because they were paired together in their introductions.

2. Did they know one another before the Wedding? I got the sense that they were acquainted, but that may have only been because they were paired together in their introductions.

Same.

On the topic of Zouvek and Kiriana, firstly, it took me a few days to realize their reference to Dr. Who. Secondly, between what's been said and because talking to a friend of mine about a particular set of poniponiponi words (in which various characters share their perspective of Twilight Sparkle's untimely assassination), I started to wonder, is it to soon to consider the ripples that this is going to have across the multiverse? Like, all those things mentioned, such as Shandrovol and possibly Illarion's sister's coming to terms with his never coming back, or Jade realizing her opportunity passed her by, or Nasperge discovering yet another of his friends passed on while he was elsewhere -- is it too soon to be considering these? Because I think that would make an interesting and emotional series of shorts.

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